This release Lighthouse 64 5.13, not officially announced until now, but was on the lhpup.org web site for a while.

If you have already downloaded and tried it, please post feedback here. Otherwise recommend to try 512 or wait for 514 as several bugs have been reported, including a kernel panic that affects 513.

There is another bug in L64 5.13 with the ROX desktop drive icons. If pmount Drives opens and you change to using /mnt in the Preferences--clicking on a desktop drive icon mounts directly to /mnt instead of /mnt/sda1 or /mnt/sr0, etc. This could leave new folders in a writeable drive that shouldn't be there. Rare instance might even lose data.

So please, don't use the desktop drive icons in Openbox/JWM/Fusion, or better yet, don't use this release to be safe! This only applies if you have changed the first preference in Pmount Drives from the default.

Hi Taz,
Still here despite the weather.
I have successfully downloaded 513 and now KDE works for me. I used the KDE .sfs that I had previously downloaded and which I never could get it to work in 512 (checked the md5 sums etc but no luck).
The only difference is that the 513 save file and partition it's on are ext3 not ext4. I can't see how that would make any difference, so maybe it was something I installed then un-installed. If I had gone back to a clean 512 install then KDE might have worked, but once you get a whole slew of customization you're less inclined to to start all over again
... so I have a lot of catching up to do.
Must confess I've been spending quite a lot of time with Mint 11 and 12 lately, but my roots (!) are in puppy.
I like the way 513 recognizes the screen resolution earlier in the boot process. No problems for me getting a working system first time. I guess that the gui for selecting save-file options prior to first time shutdown is a bit more user friendly but the functions seem to be exactly the same.
I'll now get to know the latest KDE and continue testing this release.
I thought that I detected a different font in 512 for the boot-up information messages, so that the /-\| sequence didn't have the gap in the vertical bar? Missing in 513.
Thanks as always for the work you put into these releases.
B.

Thank you for trying 513 and the feedback. Yes, the console fonts are back to default to hopefully fix an intermittent bug where the prompt and last few lines were missing. KDE is great when it works, seems not as reliable as other WMs in Lighthouse.

LateAdopter wrote:

Hello tazoc

Thanks for the LH64 513 version. I set it up on Saturday and it works well.

The change in the display driver configuration had me going round in circles for a bit, but I got there in the end...

The reason was that the X.org on screen instructions say that, for the Radeon driver, you go to the desktop and click Update. But that only offers the AMD Radeon proprietary blob. The driver that I wanted was the X.org Radeon driver!

The good news is, that having got it sorted, 513 has the same X.org 1.9.5/7.10.3 that Fatdog64 520 has.

7.10.3 seems to be the first version that doesn't get blacklisted for hardware rendering acceleration.

With VLC the cpu load taken by X, when playing a 1920x1080 video goes down from about 40% to about 7% x 1 core.

Excellent! thank you.

I had problems with the X.org radeon driver, ATI's Catalyst works much better for me. It is confusing as both are for Radeon-based cards. In firstrun/Personalize Settings panel, just click on Xorgwizard to install the X.org driver. It will prompt to close X, then select 'Choose driver'.

einar wrote:

Hi Tazoc

i also played with 513 this weekend it plays nice on my HP HDX 9050.
There is one difference form 512 or any other puplet i have tested. the norwegian keyboard layout does not work. i can choose it. but its wrong. i dont get our "local" letters : æøå

I've had a few problems. I did have to use the code "nomodeset pfix=vesa,ram" in my menu.lst to install it and had to keep "nomodeset" there after installation. Thanks for the comprehensive release notes.

1. Pmount freezes. See desktop picture. In KDE, as a workaround, I used startmount to place drives on the desktop in order to access the drives with file managers.

2. I've not been successful installing it on my new Dell laptop that I got on black friday. Fatdog64-521 works great on it. I'll report on it later after I try again to install it.

Cheers,
Jim

Thanks Jim. There is a workaround for pmount until I figure out the freeze. Try pmount-puppy in a terminal. If it works OK,

Code:

cp -f /usr/sbin/pmount-puppy /usr/sbin/pmount

will make it the default.

BHINTZ wrote:

I tried pfix=nocopy and that made no difference

I wrote down error message first few lines which occur immediately after -booting kernel

These lines are followed by several lines of letters and numbers that I did not attempt to copy.

I also deleted save file so am trying to boot fresh frugal. I did not make a cd, but simply copied three basic files to directory.

If this gives you any clue, I check in several times a day.

bob

Bob,
I also found today that pfix=nocopy didn't always work. Am working on the init script.

I haven't seen the message about k2.6.35.7. Are you sure you copied vmlinuz off the 513 ISO? k2.6 was in the last release, 512. You can quickly verify all the files copied to your frugal install by copying click-to-verify-lhp or -mariner with all the others and then clicking on it.

Jim1911 wrote:

Sorry, I've been unsuccessful at installing it on my laptop. This post is using Fatdog64-521. Attached is your sys-info report. I believe that the problem is the Intel(R)Sandybridge Mobile Graphics Chipset. I'll keep trying.

On 513, Pmount displays an orange "scanning hardware" window that does not complete and follow to the pmount dialog box.

Also, on leaving X (restart or powerdown) the machine reaches a command prompt then immediately runs X again - leaving no way to quit without hitting the power button.

I've been putting off a disk scan (two large ext2 partitions) because I don't trust the fsck command.

Could the disk mounting problems be due to disk errors on these partitions?

Could anyone please describe methods to:

1) do a file system check on the L64save.2fs ONLY.
2) do a file system check on ext2 partitions /mnt/sda3 and/or /mnt/sda1

I noticed after my abortive attempt with 513 that I had new folders on the base of the boot drive (etc, var, and so on)... is that usual? I prefer a frugal install with a save file and did not (as I remember) choose to "full install"...

Only the full install or 'use entire partition' options should be creating folders like that. Earlier LHP versions did not have the 'use entire partition' option. Maybe we should take that Puppy feature out?

Quote:

I am looking forward to a 64 bit lighthouse that will compile the nvidia driver... will 513 do that?!

I am happy to include debug info but don't know what to post.

Many thanks in advance!

513 offers the proprietary drivers via Update icon on the desktop. If desired, you can d/l directly from Nvidia after installing the Devx-L64_513.sfs

The easiest way to fsck the save file is to boot with puppy pfix=fsck although that will also check the host partition, (and other ext2/3/4 partitions if run from the livecd.) To check other partitions without using the CL, boot 513 with

Code:

puppy pfix=ram,pure64,nosfs

so that all partitions can be unmounted before checking. Then Menu -> System -> GParted -> right-click on each Linux partition -> Check -> Apply.

nickdobrinich wrote:

@Tazoc,
I also had some kernel panic problems so this may be helpful.
I frugal installed LHP64-5.13B2 to a clean ext4 partition, sda7.
Booted from the CD, copied all the files as per usual install.
Added a new grub entry.
Saved the L64save.4fs file on the way out to sda7.
On reboot, I got the Kernel Panic - not syncing message just as it tried to load L64-513.sfs.
I futzed with it, tried various boot options, no love.

If I deleted the L64save.4fs file, I could boot from the CD.
If I created the save file again and rebooted, kernel panic again.

Finally I moved all of the sda7 files to sda6, adjusted grub and L64 booted correctly.
Apparently I was in the twilight zone beyond some BIOS imposed limit as to how far out the L64 partition could be and still be seen as bootable.
I am not sure where that limit is but I have run into this before on other Pups installed into outer limit partitions.
I hope this helps.

This is your best and fastest LHP yet.
Thank you once again.

You're welcome! I appreciate the feedback. Maybe it is a BIOS limit but I was under the impression that Linux wasn't prone to that. I think the kernel panic has something to do with booting from the LiveCD after a frugal install when NTFS partitions are present. Still working on that one...
Regards,
TaZoC_________________lhpup.orgLighthouse 64 6.02

Miracle of miracles, LHP64 has the correct drivers for Dell laptop Broadcom wireless cards.
I have struggled for months with 5.03g getting only occasional wireless connectivity on various Dell laptops.
Bless you.

This is just great, Great, GREAT! Even though it is in beta state, its comprehensive inclusions of

Startup

Video - Audio

LAN discovery

Multimedia

Update subsystem

and V3 kernel

makes this one of the greatest achievements in the Puppy arena in 2011. It is a superb well-thought thru distribution packaging. Additionally, this is a very complete packaging for most every user need to have hit the download site for Puppy users to use.

I hope everyone notices the single addition of LAN sharing that has been added so that this Puppy has sharing built into the system. This sharing allows all Puppy Lighthouse users to share folders and devices in exactly the same what that all Microsoft and Macs do. What sets this distro apart is that this is done without ANY NEED TO INSTALL ANYTHING ON YOUR LIGHTHOUSE.....NOTHING! And, any PC (new or old Windows/Macs/Unix/Linux) can access and use what this Puppy users decides to share with other LAN users.

This is the 1st Puppy, for me, where I don't have to install anything at all and it will REPLACE any Windows or MAC or other desktops. I get full Multimedia, full LAN use (PlayStation/Xbox/WII/NAS/Entertainment devices/etc.) with all my LAN devices without the need to install anything from the internet. All this is delivered self-contained in a single ISO. I tested Mariner and am running it as a Live media based system. It has everything to be useful right out of the box.

Not only is this astonishingly fast, but it is stable as well; on the 2 platforms I am testing the Live system on. Additionally, Lighthouse is serving files to my Windows PCs faster than a Microsoft server that I use at home while at the same time talking to a Dlink entertainment device that up until now, no Linux (excepting for a very recent addition, PET, by 01Micko in his SLACKO using the same sharing technology) had done without problems.

This is a great, Great, GREAT contribution to the 64bit arsenal for PUppy.

System Report.tar.gz

Description

My report for one of the 64bit PCs. This provides a view of Video, RAM, and Hardware of a running LIghthouse64 with SAMBA sharing active

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Good news, I've been able to boot into 64 5.13 and appears to be working fine except for save file recognition.

It boots properly from a CD using

Code:

lhp nomodeset pfix=intel,ram

So far all software appears to be working properly including pmount (which won't run on my desktop computer). Frisbee setup a wifi connection properly so this post is from the laptop using 64 5,13.

I do have a serious problem. Pupsave is created upon shutdown, however, the save file is not recognized from a CD or from grub4dos. The only way that it will boot properly is using a CD with code above. Booting from grub I get the following, from CD it's the same except fsck isn't used:

@Jim1911,
See Tazoc's post about 6 above this one.
I had EXACTLY the same problem with save files you do, even coincidentally on sda7 (on a Dell Latitude D631 laptop).
Moving all of LHP64 to a lower numbered ext4 partition made it work.
Not sure about the BIOS limit, maybe it's a Dell thing?
This is in fact Tazoc's best and fastest LHP to date.

@Jim1911,
See Tazoc's post about 6 above this one.
I had EXACTLY the same problem with save files you do, even coincidentally on sda7 (on a Dell Latitude D631 laptop).
Moving all of LHP64 to a lower numbered ext4 partition made it work.
Not sure about the BIOS limit, maybe it's a Dell thing?
This is in fact Tazoc's best and fastest LHP to date.

Thanks, I had missed your fix, however moving my installation to sda6 ext4 partition did not help, I still get the same errors posted above.

Yeah, I'm not at all sure about that limit or if it is something else unique to L64-5.13
Tazoc is looking into it.
Did you have any luck with 5.12-B1?

My thought was the BIOS can only see out and recognize a bootable partition starting at about half the drive, in my case about 62G of a 120G drive.
62G (the start of the sda6 partition that worked) doesn't seem to correspond to any 2 to the whatever limit.
72G was the start of the sda7 partition that won't work.
2 ^ 36 is about 69G if this is the addressing scheme the BIOS uses.
Who knows?
Might depend on head / cylinder / sector geometry.
So my theory may be totally bogus.
Sorry that didn't work for you.

@All,
There is another bug with the ROX desktop drive icons. If pmount Drives opens and you change to using /mnt in the Preferences--clicking on a desktop drive icon mounts directly to /mnt instead of /mnt/sda1 or /mnt/sr0, etc. This could leave new folders in a writeable drive that shouldn't be there. Rare instance might even lose data.

So please, don't use the desktop drive icons in Openbox/JWM/Fusion, or better yet, don't use this release to be safe! This only applies if you have changed the first preference in Pmount Drives from the default.

@Jim1911,
I have verified the kernel panic is caused by a fusermount -u failure (unmounting an NTFS partition) in the init script. I'm testing a patched initrd.xz and pmount fixes that I'll upload in a day or two.

For now, if you're booting L64 from a partition that is not NTFS simply tell the initrd not to search other partitions by specifying pdev1 in your Grub config like this:

I'm running the Fusion desktop.
I decided to put all the apps I use into the application launch bar and then hide the desktop icons for a cleaner look.
On reboot the puppy drive icons load one atop the other all in the bottom left corner. I can drag them apart, but they ought to be spaced out.
Change back to show desktop icons and reload the desktop -> drive icons are correctly spaced out.
Update: Tried the same thing with Openbox -> same result.
B._________________Laptop: Acer Aspire 5810TZ

@Jim1911,
I have verified the kernel panic is caused by a fusermount -u failure (unmounting an NTFS partition) in the init script. I'm testing a patched initrd.xz and pmount fixes that I'll upload in a day or two.

For now, if you're booting L64 from a partition that is not NTFS simply tell the initrd not to search other partitions by specifying pdev1 in your Grub config like this:

Your suggested code change works and LHP 64-513 is now working fine on the Dell laptop. However, for some reason my Desktop computer boots fine without the extra code in my menu.lst and both installations are frugal installations on an ext4 partitition.

It will probably be better to specify the correct partition as you suggested in the menu.lst for all installations as grub does rather than using grub4dos defaults.

Although some may already be aware, I have 2 problems uncovered. They are NOT show stoppers for system operations, but they affect the ability to save the system configuration for reboot when running Live media and want to have your session saved back to Live media. The Live media is a multi-session DVD created from Mariner 513beta2 via Pburn

Upon shutdown, I am NOT getting any option to save the booted system back to Live media. Instead, it appears to want to save to HDD (see picture below)

When running remaster, the ISO that is created will NOT boot. It goes into a reboot spin indicating it is looking for intird.xz which does NOT exist on the DVD.

Hope this helps

bad shutdowm.png

Description

Shutdown wants to create a file on the Hard drive, even though it was booted from DVD and I want the session to be saved to DVD.

Filesize

31.49 KB

Viewed

1669 Time(s)

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LAMP would not just set up and work out of box...
Turned out to be a permissions thing...
Initially thought no 'nobody' user? but is present.
Changed .conf and .ini files
used ... chown -R spot *blah* to sort it... not sure that was clever.

VMWARE
The .bundle installs but does not configure correctly on first run...
Kernel sources? HAL?